THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CIOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1877.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2641, 26 June 1877, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CIOCK P.M. Resurrexi. TUESDAY, JUNE 26, 1877.

- — • The " Lay of the Bell," which has been in rehearsal for some time b/ the choir of S. George's Church, will be performed by them at the Academy of Music this evening, assisted by an efficient band. The vocal portion, we are requested to state, will be given entirely by members of the choir, not a single outside voice assisting. The band will be under the leadership of Mr Stewart, senior, and Mr J. Grigg will wield the conductor's baton. A full rehearsal was had last night, when the "Lay of the Bell" went very nicely, and it is expected that the performance this evening will be eminently successful. After the concert there will be a dance, to which holders of front seat tickets wilLbe admitted.: With fine weather and a moonlight evening we may expect to see a.very large attendance. The complimentary benefit to Miss Hunter, tendered by a number of members of the Amateur Dramatic Club and other gentlemen, will take place at the Academy of Music on Thursday night. The programme will embrace a two act comedy by the late Andrew Halliday, entitled " Checkmate," the dialogue of which is smart and the situations amusing, and a concert. On the same evening a presentation will be made to Mr W. W.. Uobinson (wlio appears in " Checkmate "} by a number of his coadjutors in the cricket field, at football, and on the stage, Mr Robinson being about to leave the Thames for Auckland. Messes Baker and Farhon, German and Irish character actors, comedians and dancers, are to open here on Friday next in their speciality dramas. They have had a long and highly successful season in Auckland. They are said to be the greatest mirth-provoking actors that have visited Auckland, their songs, dances and witticisms, together with the ludicrous situations introduced, being simply irresistible by the most taciturn. They bring an efficient orchestra with them. Mr J. Letdon reports having had a good sale to-day of produce and miscellaneous goods. Cheese sold at 8d per Ib ; potatoes, 15s per cwt; chaff, £5 to £5 10s per ton; tea, 2s 7d per Ib. There was a fair attendance, and the general merchandise fetched good prices. At yesterday's sale of furniture and effects of the Victoria Hotel, Karaka, there was a large attendance and spirited bidding, the prices realised being exceedingly satisfactory. The only business at the II.M. Court this morning was a charge of drunkenness preferred against Eichard Martin, w>* 0 was only yesterday fined 10s n* hou^. im . pr.sonment for tl- game offence> aQd a similar Pp^ (llt y was again inflicted on him, \1 oeing at the same time warned by the Bench that if he a^ain appeared before them, he would receive severer punishment. 3. Kilgour and H. Goldsmith, Esqs., J's.P., presided. At latest advices there was a dearth of the legitimate drama in Dunedin. The Chicago Minstrels occupied the Princess Theatre, and Kennedy's Mirror of England had possession of the Queen's. There had been several side shows and lectures, and amateur performances, bat the drama appears to have declined in the first city of the Colony. Mr Charles Bright,seems to hold the free thought people in subjection, arid the trance medium, Thomas Walker,.has a following. . The latter has been subjected to a cross-examination, which he appears to Jiave fenced. He has been encountered by advocates of free thought; and by evolutionists, and the medium appears to have got the worst of it. ■ . . A resident of Wellington has a grievance, says an exchange. It appears that he has become the occupier of a wellknown hotel, which, though it does a remarkably good business, is in such a dilapidated condition that it needs constant repairing. A few days ago one of the shingles on the roof got out of order, and a carpenter was sent for to repair it. After fixing the shingle, he was getting off the roof when he broke a pane of glass in a window, and a glacier had to be sent for to make things right. The glazier put a new pane of glass into the window, but in doing so he broke down some gas fittings, aud the services of the gasfitter had to be obtained. The gasfitter, having done his work, was about to remove his ladder, which was a very heavy one, when it fell and smashed another window.

Then the glaiier was sent for again, and after ho had mended the window he wag about to depart, but unfortunately, his foot slipped, and he fell on the roof of an outbuilding, which was very rotten, and went through, and the carpenter has been recalled. The hotelkceper says the tradesmen are combining to drive him into the Bankruptcy Court.

Thomas Walkbb, trance medium, has given several lectures in Dunedin, and has been tested by questions of a puzzling character, to which he has given equally puzzling answers. The public are divided a 9 to his merits —whether he is self-deceived or a clever impostor, for we notice that his utterances are received with mingled applause and expressions of disapproval. One thing must be admitted —that; he is clever if not under spirit influence. There are few professors who would care night after night to have to lecture on any subject chosen by an audience without previous preparation. This Walker does, and talks fluently and sometimes eloquently.

His Honor Justice Johnston in his charge to the Grand Jury at Timaru, among other remarks, said : "It was a notorious thing that prosperity brought crime with it as well as comfort. The sorts of crime more particularly rife here were often encouraged by sudden affluence. Industrious men, who had been working in the country and earned a considerable amount of money, would come into town and spend it recklessly; or else fall into the bands of unscrupulous persons, who would clear them out of it all. This not only demoralised the man himself, but tended to create crime in others. Therefore it was especially desirable that statesmen and philanthropists should use their utmost endeavours to discover some means of checking this kind or evil. He was not in a position to know anythiug about the savings banks in the district; but he thought perhaps that if instead of paying men all their wages in cash, part of it could be paid by giving them an interest in savings banks or some such institutions, it would go a long way towards prerenting the money being spent recklessly. If there was any value in such a suggestion, he hoped" public opinion would take it up."

A London correspondent of the Otago Daily Times writes :—lf the end be held to justify the means, then a meed of praise must be accorded to a wealthy Londoner, who lately played a somewhat remarkable trick upon his friends. A charitable institution being in want of funds the gentleman in question announced that he had received on loan a number of pictures by distinguished artists, which would be on view at his house on a certain day at a fixed charge, the proceeds to be given to the charity aforesaid. When visitors came to see the exhibition they paid their admission fees and bought catalogues got up in the same style as those of the Royal Academy, but were rather puzzled when they came to compare the catalogue. " Caught in a Squall off Yarmouth," was a herring in the flesh (or scales); "Her First Ball" was a child's ball^ of worsted ; " Study of the Interior of China," an empty sugar bowl;, " Study of a Fish in Oils," a sardine in box, and so on. The first dupes revenged themselves by sending their friends to be taken in as they themselves had been, and a sufficient sum was thus taken to free the charity from debt.

The Poverty Bay Standard remarks on the Te Kooti scare :—The Te Kooti scare appears to have died out. The few— and they were very few—who did feel uneasy have had their anxiety relieved by the assurance that if the scoundrel should come it would be worse for himself, as we shall be ready to meet him with the kind of welcome that a rifle bullet generally gives to the stamp of man he belongs to. It has been alleged that Te Kooti is possessed with a desire to settle in the Bay, his feelings and associations being centred, in this part of the North Island. It is no doubt a very natural desire. The r*jeople of Peverty Bay, especially those who have not forgotten their murdered relatives and friends—will raise no opposition to his occupying five feet six. inches of soil three feet below the surface, which is the only form of location vrhich is likely to be permitted Te Kooti, liotwithstanding his love for an affectionate wife and loving children.

Miss Cora Dickson, a young girl of twenty-two, arrived in Paris lately from South America. Her life has thus far been a checkered one. At the age of 15, tired of the monotony of home, she ran away from her father's house with a large sum of money. She cut her hair short and donned a boy's garb. After becoming in succession a cabin-boy, a clerk, and & borsedealer, she turned up in Buenos Ayres, where she entered the army, stiti disguised. She distinguished herself in the service* and became a colonel. Some months ago, at a meeting of officers, she quarrelled with one of those present. A duel followed, and she killed her man. On examining the dead man's papers, she found that she had killed her eldest brother, who had left home when she was two years of age. Horror-stricken, she threw herself at the bishop's feet, who promised to intercede with her father.